Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Most of you have heard by now that Seda Lee Jenson (pronounced "see-da") was born on March 10. It's now March 19, and while she is napping in her bouncy chair I am going to try to squeeze in a photo-heavy blog post.

I went into labor spontaneously the night of Saturday, March 9. It was 11:00, midnight with the time change. I was asleep and woke up because my water broke. I noticed I was having contractions too. I went downstairs and told Josh. We tried to sleep and chill out a bit during the early labor, but I couldn't sleep; I was too excited. Throughout the night the contractions got stronger and closer together. At about 4 AM we called Jess, my doula. Then I called my doctor and got the only bad news of the whole affair - she was out of town! She was in Marquette for her kid's basketball tournament. This meant that the other doctor, Dr. F., was on call to deliver my baby. I was pretty upset for a bit. I really like my doctor, and she had been very supportive of the type of birth I wanted to have (which I won't get into, here), whereas the other doctor, wasn't so much. But I had more important things to worry about and we had to get over it. We headed for the hospital and arrived there at about 7 AM. One of my favorite OB nurses was working (remember I work there so I know everyone), and she was training a new one who I also really like, who was just at my orientation the week before.

I won't go into all the crazy details here, but I labored for another 7 hours once we got there and Seda was born at 1:55 PM on Sunday. All I can say about giving birth is, it was crazy intense - indescribable, really - and my experience was everything I was hoping it would be. I want to say right off the bat, to redeem my comments above about Dr. F., that he was just awesome. 100% respectful and professional, and followed my birth plan exactly. I had nothing to worry about. I am honestly filled with gratitude towards him right now.

The birth was as natural as possible under the circumstances. I had no pain meds at all, and the only drug I got was after the birth when they gave me a shot of pitocin in the arm, to help the uterus shrink down or whatever. They made me have a "hep lock" in my arm just in case, but I had no IV. I also had to have continuous fetal monitoring, which meant no water birth, but that was OK with me. I am so, so grateful that I got to experience this; I'm still trying to process it in my brain by writing about it in my journal. It was just awesome.

Here's a picture of us shortly after the birth. I don't feel it's too indecent and don't mind sharing it. Seda was the pinkest baby our doula ever saw when she came out. Her apgars were 9 and 9. She was 6 pounds, 4.5 ounces.

I know I've already praised Dr. F., but I also just have to say that Aspirus Keweenaw was awesome all around. I'm not just saying that because I work there. Everyone - the nurses, CNAs, kitchen staff - was just amazing and the experience could not have been much better.

And here are a bunch of pictures of Seda. These were all taken at home.

This is the "I'm hungry" face. She's been a great eater so far.

And here's the big sister. Willow has taken it pretty well so far, I think. She's been a little demanding, but I think she is starting to understand. She does love to help by running for diapers, etc. :)

My friend Sharon stopped by for a visit a couple days ago. Her due date is the day after mine was (March 25). I call this photo "baby out, baby in".

Seda also had her first outing 3 days after her birth - a weight check at her doctor's. I was feeling pretty good that day, and after the appointment, we all went out to lunch! It was a pretty incredible feeling being out and about 3 days after giving birth! By the way, we left the hospital the day after she was born. A 1-day hospital stay for Seda, in contract to Willow's 105-day stay. :)

And finally, here is a video of Willow in her awesome snow fort that Daddy helped her build. We've been trying to get her outside daily on her non-school days to blow off some steam. It's needed!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

I know, I've been slacking off on the blog. Things have been just a *little* hectic around here lately. I guess once the baby is born, who knows what will happen to the blog...maybe I'll have time to update it while I am on maternity leave? Or maybe I'm completely delusional in thinking that. In the meantime, every spare minute of the past month has been occupied, basically. This weekend we finally had a second to breathe, sort of. I actually feel OK enough about work now that I didn't feel the need to work this weekend, and at home we are getting closer to being ready. Josh has brought Willow to a "bouncy house" fundraiser at the SDC. I just paid bills and am trying to squeeze in a blog post before they return.

First off, yes, I am still pregnant. I'm 37 weeks today. The baby could come now and it wouldn't even have to go to the NICU. I just took our big stash of preemie books and put them in the box for St. Vinny's! I am so thankful and still can't believe I did it. Here's a picture of me from last weekend at 36 weeks. It was on Facebook too, but for those of you who are not on Facebook, I wanted to post it here as well.

My last appointment in Wausau was February 11, and everything was fine - so good that he said I did not have to come back for the final appointment. Right now I'm focusing on preparing for the birth; I've been reading a ton, and have a doula ready to go. Yesterday we took a childbirth class too. I am so excited to actually experience birth! :)

But enough about me. Someone had a birthday recently. Willow turned 4 on February 19. The weekend before, we had a sledding birthday party at the Nara chalet and sledding hill. The party was a smashing success, if I do say so myself. The weather cooperated for sledding, Grandma made an amazing cake, and everyone seemed to have a good time. There were no meltdowns or crying by anyone! Here are a bunch of photos:

Margot, the youngest attendee:

Cameron and Jess:

Willow and Papa:

Anna and Maisa:

Aspen:

DaveO and Amelia:

Scott and Garrison:

Andi and Cat:

Willow and Maisa:

Here's Garrison taking his turn at pin-the-tail on the pony. The party had sort of a horse/pony/unicorn theme. Willow is very into these lately.

Here's a shot of everyone eating. Somehow, I didn't really get a photo of Lewis or Jacob. I wish I would've taken a group shot of all the kids together!

And finally, here is a video of the Happy Birthday song, plus you can see the pony cake my mom made. It was a huge hit.

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This blog follows the adventures of Lindsay, Josh and Willow Jenson. It started in 2008 as my pregnancy blog, then when our daughter was born 14 weeks early in February 2009 it morphed into a medical blog as she spent her first 105 days in the NICU. Now, thankfully, it's basically a run-of-the-mill new parent blog.